After more than half the field had turned in their scorecards, Tim Frazier of Sycamore Hills CC stirred things up with a 3-under-par 67 to take the lead at the Indianapolis Open held at Highland G & CC.
An early morning frost delay pushed tee times back an hour but once play began, conditions improved and after the morning wave of tee times, it was Denny Ford, a Super Senior Professional, who was the talk of the leaderboard.
Ford out of Sarah Shank GC took advantage of the 6500 yard course setup and finished with a 2-under-par 68. His round was unmatched until late this afternoon when Andrew Wegeng, a recent Butler grad, also came in with 68.
It looked like 2-under was going to be difficult to beat, but Frazier was able to do so with an impressive opening round.
“I hit it really close quite a few times and that helps,” Frazier said. “I didn’t do anything special today I just hit the ball in the fairway and made putts when I needed to.”
Frazier’s round consisted of five birdies coming on the par 5, 3rd hole, the par 4, 7th hole, the par 3, 8th hole, the par 3, 11th hole, and the par 4, 14th hole. He only carded two bogeys on holes 6 and 18.
“If I were to win this event I would feel like I was still able to compete,” Frazier said. “As you get older you start to get busy and it’s tough to play well sometimes. I like to compete and I hope to just play steady tomorrow and continue to hit fairways and greens.”
Wegeng from Avon has had a lot of success at Highland, winning both Butler Invitationals the past two years.
“It would mean a lot to win an event so close to Butler,” Wegeng said. “I hope to play all day tomorrow like I did on the front nine today. I’m going to try to focus on the good things I did today and carry them with me into tomorrow.”
After today’s round, the field was cut to the low 60 players and ties at 6-over-par 76.
Four players are tied at 1-under-par, just two shots back including: Scott Morris, Drew Imel, Michael Williams, and Sam Till Jr.